A Series of Small Snippets

Sagittarius sat alone at her favorite spot by her pool. Here the Summer sun’s Saturday afternoon light does not reflect into her eyes too harshly. She tried wearing sunglasses once but the darkened shades of the lenses discolored the pages of her favorite novellas. She believed that the publishing houses purposefully give the pages a yellow-gold tint, as a stylistic choice, to make the words have a certain atmosphere.

After fixing her pool chair to Support her back for the perfect reading position, one where the sun did not cause a glare in her eyes while also still perfectly lighting up the pages, She read:

My dearest Margret, it has been so long since I had seen your face. Since I had felt the soft suppleness of your skin. I wish to hold you by the smalls of your waist and never, ever let go. Let me not only be the weight which grants you stability, but also the weightlessness that’s holds you up high...

“Mom?”

The sound of her son, Scorpio, brought her attention from Lord Frais’ love confession.

“Yes dear?” Her voice sounded in an automatic tone, one she had practiced on her son for close to sixteen years. It was a tone that was cheerful. A tone which said “whatever can I do for my beloved son?”.

“I washed some grapes. Would you like some?”

She thought a moment, the sun’s heat was strong at this time and would not begin to cool for a few more hours. Some sweet grapes would feel amazing in her mouth as she read her book “The Times They Tried”. Her teeth cutting into a firm grape’s skin with a satisfying snap, followed by the sweet refreshing pulp and juices coating her tongue before she swallowed was enticing.

“You’re a good boy Scorpio, I would love some grapes.”

“Okay, well they are inside.”

“Can’t you bring them out here?”

“Sorry mom, Capricorn is waiting for me to log on to fight Fatalis in the new DLC. I don’t want to keep him waiting.”

She sighed before saying “Fine, thank you.” In the same cheerful tone.

“You’re welcome.” Scorpio replied before shutting the glass sliding door that connected their outdoor pool to their kitchen and living room.

“The prospects of parenthood...” she said with a smile. Her hands still held her book open to the pages she was on. Her bare legs drank in the sun’s rays and she could not help but wiggle her toes for today was one that could not be wasted. She rested the book on her bare belly and stood it back up in the primest of upright positions to read Lord Frais’ love confession:

hold you up high. As I sit here writing this, far and alone, I recall that Summer evening we shared together afloat on Lord Odenkirk’s lake during their water tea party. What an extremely over the top and extravagant event that was, if not for your beauty that froze my legs in their places, I would have jumped ship and swam to shore. But I am glad that I stayed and elated that we made our acquaintance. If not for Madame Hollybell’s impressive girth on Lord Odenkirk’s rather narrow Baratié, you would not have accidentally spilled your tea on my sweet cake and apologized. We most likely would never have talked even though we sat across from each other. For I was simply at a loss for words by how the...

A sound, a very loud and annoying whirring sound took her out of her story. She looked to her right, in the direction of the glass sliding doors to her family home. Past the glass doors she saw her husband, Leo. She could tell it was him for over the years he had developed into a large burley man. He shuffles when he walked now, shifting his wieght from one leg to the other. He did it now as he vaccuumed the kitchen floors. She looked at the glass sliding doors and noticed they were partially opened and wet. Leo must have cleaned and polished them while she read about Lord Frais recalling when he met Margret. She looked at Leo, watched him shuffle and breath hard as he vacuumed the wood floors of their kitchen board by board. Age had not been kind to the both of them. Even now she could feel a soreness at the back of her neck and shoulders. She could not read while Leo maintained their home so instead she did leisurely stretches for her shoulders, arms, and neck. But doing so only bothered her more because now some parts of her were stretched while others were not. So she sat up and lay her book pages down on her chair so as not to lose her place in “The Times They Tried” before standing entirely on her feet. Her skin felt a little too hot from being under the sun so she decided to take a little dip in the pool. She only went deep enough to wet up to her hips and raised her arms so that her stomach and hands stayed dry for reading. In the mean time she stretched her sides, her legs, her back, and did more head rolls to try and really get at the soreness in her neck.

Only when Leo finished vacuuming the whole kitchen and living room floors did she get out of the pool. Walking back to her favorite spot, she made sure not to drip any water on her book while she situated herself back into a suitable reading position. Looking past the glass doors again, she saw Leo now doing dishes to prepare for dinner.

“He’s certainly not Lord Frais, but he does have a charm to him.” She said with a smile. The sound of the sink and Leo placing the dishes onto the drying rack bothered her some, but not enough for her to refocus on her reading:

If not for Madame Hollybell’s impressive girth on Lord Odenkirk’s rather narrow Baratié, you would not have accidentally spilled your tea on my sweet cake and apologized. We most likely would never have talked even though we sat across from each other. For I was simply at a loss for words by how the lake breeze would caress the skin on your cheek or how your gentle slender hand placed a stray strand of your golden hair behind your ear. I was enamored by how kind and earnest your eyes were while we chatted on our many interests. I had never once met a woman who had an affinity for Ford as much as you and of course my interests were peaked. Meanwhile Your father Lord Cavendish tried to interject in an attempt to diminish further embarrassment of your intellect but it was too late. I was fascinated. What other beauty do you withhold behind your dazzling eyes, what interests do you facade for the sake of your father’s face? I wish for you to know that no such thing will be a requirement for you so long as I am by your side...

“AAAGGGHHHH!” Leo’s scream of pain startled Sagittarius, her whole body did an involuntary jump and “The Times They Tried” fell into the pool’s water. With a surprised scream, Sagittarius got up into her feet. The book floated at the surface for a bit but it was headed towards the middle of the pool she could already begin to see through some of the pages as they soaked up the chlorine laden waters. Rushing to the pool’s edge, she got on her hands and knees and began to pull at the water so as to get the book closer within her reach. The repetitive splashing of the water made her shoulder and neck ache flare up, but at least she got “The Times They Tried” before it was too late. As she held the book in her hands, water leaked out from the pages and she heard her young daughter, Aries, call from within the house.

“Mommy, Daddy’s bleeding.”

“What?”Sagittarius rushed passed her daughter peering out of the glass sliding g doors to see Leo digging through a cabinet in the kitchen.

“Honey, where are the bandaids?”

“Why? What happened?”

“Cut the corner of my finger trying to chop onions... Damnit, it hurts.”

“Let me see Dear.” Sagittarius looked at Leo’s held out hand and saw the cut. A large dark bubble of blood was forming and it made her woozy to look at. “Aries, go get those bandaids I used on you when you scratched your mosquito bite. Do you remember them?”

“The ones under Scorpio’s bathroom sink with the dinosaurs?”

“Yes those ones”

“Which dinosaur do you want daddy?” Aries hopped up and down at the question. She was excited to be helpful. So excited that the giraffe doll she hugged by the neck looked like it was being strangled.

“Uhhh... T-Rex baby girl...” Leo began to wipe at the blood on his finger with the napkin the found. Every time he wiped, a new bubble of dark red blood formed just as fast and threatened to drip into the floor.

Aries ran past the both of them and hey could hear her eager hurried steps climb the stairs to the second floor bathroom.

“Oh... oh no honey... I’m so sorry what happened?” Leo asked, his attention was turned to her book which lay wet on the kitchen counter. She had placed it there next to Scorpio’s bowl of grapes before she held Leo’s hand in the both of hers. She didn’t want his blood to get on the already damaged pages.

“It’s fine, don’t worry. Your finger is more important.”

Aries came back but hung her head in disappointment. “I’m sorry daddy, there’s no T-Rex... I could only find Velociraptor...”

“Velociraptor?! What? How did you know that was my favorite?!” Leo gasped and it made Aries smile. Sagittarius let go of Leo’s hand and let Aries give him the velociraptor bandaid. She sat in one of their kitchen counter stools beside where she placed her book and the bowl of grapes. They were plump and green. She looked at “The Times They Tried” and sighed before closing the pages. They made a sickening gush as more water leaked out. She pushed the book away.

“I didn’t want to finish reading anyways.” She whispered before picking one of the washed green grapes Scorpio had washed for her. They were still a little cold and the thought of the chilled grapes cooling her insides was just the relief she needed from such a hectic day.

But when she popped a small handful of grapes in her mouth and bit into the firm skin, they snapped and the juices that flowed were not sweet. Instead, the grapes were sour.

Authors note*

Sour Grapes - Pretended disdain for something one doesn’t or can not have.